Guides · 12 min read

Tara Koota 1.5 or 3 Out of 3: How the Birth-Star Count Scores Kundli Matching, and Why Our Engine Never Gives a 0

Can Tara koota score 0 out of 3? In our count it cannot: a Tara score in our engine is either 1.5 or 3 out of 3. Tara is one of the eight kootas of Ashtakoot kundli matching and carries 3 of the 36 points. It counts from one partner’s birth star (nakshatra) to the other’s, and back again, and reads where each count lands in a cycle of nine taras. Each direction scores 1.5, unless it lands on the 3rd, 5th or 7th tara, which score 0. This guide names the nine taras, works the count through step by step, and shows why the two directions can never both land on a 0: when one count is 3, 5 or 7, the reverse count is 8, 6 or 4. Counted over all 729 pairs of birth stars, two pairs in three score 1.5 and one in three scores the full 3; the average is exactly 2. It also explains how Tara koota differs from Tarabala for choosing dates, what a 1.5 does and does not decide next to the other seven kootas, why another sheet may print a 0, and how to check your own eight scores in a minute.

For families and couples who see “Tara 1.5/3” on a matching sheet, or a 0 on a sheet from elsewhere, and wonder whether the two birth stars are a bad sign, before they read anything into it. You need the two birth stars (nakshatras), which any birth chart gives; if you do not know yours, our kundali shows it, and our free sign check finds it from a birth date, time and place. No astrology background is needed; every Sanskrit term is explained where it first appears.

What Tara measures

Kundli matching (comparing two birth charts before a marriage) in North India usually means Ashtakoot, the “eight-part” match. It scores a couple on eight kootas (tests), and the eight add up to a total out of 36 points, also called gunas. Tara is the third of the eight in the usual order, and it carries 3 of the 36 points.

Tara means star. Tara koota reads one fact in each chart: the birth star, or janma nakshatra. The sky along the Moon’s path is divided into 27 nakshatras, and the birth star is the one the Moon was in at birth.

Our app describes Tara as “Health and well-being compatibility — whether the couple’s Nakshatra energies support each other over time.” Read that as the theme the koota is named for. What the engine actually does is simpler: it counts from one birth star to the other, and from the other back, and looks up where each count lands.

Tara is one of the four kootas read from the birth star. Our guides to Gana and Yoni, earlier posts in this series, cover two of the others.

The nine taras

Count from your own birth star, calling it 1, to any other star. The 27 stars make three rounds of nine, so every count lands on one of nine places, called taras. A count of 1, 10 or 19 is the first tara; 2, 11 or 20 the second; and so on up to 9, 18 or 27 for the ninth.

The names are traditional. They describe each place in the count, not a person.

Six of the nine places score 1.5 and three score 0. Our Tarabala guide reads the same nine names for choosing a day.

  • 1 · Janma (birth). Scores 1.5.
  • 2 · Sampat (wealth). Scores 1.5.
  • 3 · Vipat (adversity). Scores 0.
  • 4 · Kshema (well-being). Scores 1.5.
  • 5 · Pratyari (opposition). Scores 0.
  • 6 · Sadhaka (accomplishing). Scores 1.5.
  • 7 · Vadha (slaying; also called Naidhana, death or the end). Scores 0.
  • 8 · Mitra (friend). Scores 1.5.
  • 9 · Parama Mitra (closest friend). Scores 1.5.

How the three points are scored

Our engine counts twice. First it counts from the groom’s birth star to the bride’s. Then it counts from the bride’s to the groom’s. Each count is worth 1.5 points: 1.5 if it lands on one of the six scoring places, 0 if it lands on the 3rd, 5th or 7th. The two halves are added, so the total can be 1.5 or 3.

The count is inclusive: the starting star is 1, the next star 2. A count that skips the starting star is one place short every time. The star that should be the 4th tara, Kshema, then reads as the 3rd, Vipat. Our engine counts inclusively.

To count, you need the 27 stars in order. This is the order our engine uses: 1 Ashwini, 2 Bharani, 3 Krittika, 4 Rohini, 5 Mrigashira, 6 Ardra, 7 Punarvasu, 8 Pushya, 9 Ashlesha, 10 Magha, 11 Purva Phalguni, 12 Uttara Phalguni, 13 Hasta, 14 Chitra, 15 Swati, 16 Vishakha, 17 Anuradha, 18 Jyeshtha, 19 Mula, 20 Purva Ashadha, 21 Uttara Ashadha, 22 Shravana, 23 Dhanishta, 24 Shatabhisha, 25 Purva Bhadrapada, 26 Uttara Bhadrapada, 27 Revati. After Revati the count goes on to Ashwini again.

To count from star A to star B: if B comes after A in the list, the count is B’s number minus A’s number, plus 1. If B comes before A, add 27 to B’s number first. Then divide the count by 9 and keep the remainder; a remainder of 0 means the 9th place.

Five pairs, worked through

Here is the count for five pairs of birth stars, both ways.

  • Ashwini (the 1st star) with Krittika (the 3rd): from Ashwini, Krittika is count 3, Vipat, 0. From Krittika back to Ashwini is count 26, which is the 8th place, Mitra, 1.5. Tara 1.5.
  • Ashwini with Punarvasu (the 7th): count 7, Vadha, 0. Back the other way is count 22, the 4th place, Kshema, 1.5. Tara 1.5.
  • Ashwini with Bharani (the 2nd): count 2, Sampat, 1.5. Back the other way is count 27, the 9th place, Parama Mitra, 1.5. Tara 3.
  • Two people with the same birth star: count 1 both ways, Janma, 1.5 each. Tara 3.
  • Rohini (the 4th) with Hasta (the 13th): from Rohini, Hasta is count 13 − 4 + 1 = 10, which is the 1st place, Janma, 1.5. From Hasta back to Rohini is count 4 + 27 − 13 + 1 = 19, also the 1st place, 1.5. Tara 3.

Why Tara is 1.5 or 3, never 0

The two counts are tied together. If the count one way lands on place n, the count back lands on place 11 − n (and 1 stays 1). So 2 pairs with 9, 3 with 8, 4 with 7, and 5 with 6.

Look at the three places that score 0: 3, 5 and 7. Their partners are 8, 6 and 4, and all three of those score 1.5. So when one direction scores 0, the other always scores 1.5. Both directions can never score 0 together.

The full 3 needs both counts on a scoring place with no 3, 5 or 7 in the pair: 1 with 1, or 2 with 9. For any one birth star, 9 of the 27 stars give the full 3, its own star among them. The other 18 give 1.5.

  • 3 points: 243 of the 729 pairs of birth stars, 1 in 3
  • 1.5 points: 486 of the 729 pairs, 2 in 3
  • 0 points: none
  • Average: exactly 2 out of 3

Tara koota and Tarabala: one count, two questions

The same nine places also decide Tarabala, the first personal check for choosing a date. There the count runs from a person’s birth star to the star of the day, and it changes every day.

In matching, the count runs between two people’s birth stars, and it is fixed for life. So a 3rd, 5th or 7th place between two partners’ stars says nothing about which days suit either of them. And a day that lands on the 3rd, 5th or 7th place for one person says nothing about the match. Our Tarabala tool checks dates; our star-based calculator scores the match.

What a 1.5 decides, and what it does not

A 1.5 is the most common Tara score: two pairs of birth stars in three get it. It lowers the total by 1.5 of 36 points, no more.

Our engine applies no exception to Tara (an exception is a classical rule that gives a koota’s lost points back), and it raises no “tara dosha” in matching (a dosha is a flaw a match is said to carry). Our matching flags three doshas: a 0 on Nadi, a 0 on Bhakoot, and Mangal dosha (a dosha read from where Mars sits in each chart), which needs both full charts. Our Nadi and Bhakoot guide explains the two heaviest kootas.

The tara names sound heavy, and one of them, Vadha, means slaying. In matching it is a place in a count, not a forecast about either person. Nothing in a Tara score calls for a remedy, a fee or a fear.

If your sheet shows Tara 0

Our engine cannot give Tara 0. If another sheet does, it used a different rule from ours: for example, a different count, a different table, or one direction only. Ask the maker of that sheet which rule it used, and compare the two birth stars.

On that sheet, a 0 moves the total by 3 of 36 points. It is not one of the three doshas our matching flags.

Under our rule, a birth near the change of star can turn a 1.5 into a 3 on another calculator, or a 3 into a 1.5. Under our rule it cannot produce a 0. The Moon moves to the next nakshatra about once a day, so a birth near the change can fall in one star on one calculator and the next star on another. Our guide to why calculators give different guna scores shows how that happens.

Dina Porutham in the Tamil tradition

In the Tamil tradition, matching often uses Dasa Porutham, a set of ten poruthams (tests). Dina Porutham (dina means day; a test also read from the two birth stars) uses the same count of stars and the same nine places. In its commonly published form it reads one direction, where Tara koota reads both. Our Dasa Porutham guide compares the two systems.

Check your own Tara in a minute

You need the two birth stars and their padas (the four quarters of each star). Our free sign check shows your own birth star and pada from a birth date, time and place. Open our star-based calculator, enter both stars and padas, and it scores all eight kootas, Tara among them. Tara itself needs only the two stars; the pada fixes the Moon sign that other kootas read. There is nothing to sign up for.

If your sheet already lists all eight koota scores, enter them in the koota score reader. It reads them back one by one and tells you what they add up to. It does not re-score anything, and nothing is saved.

Then ask Jyothshi with the score in hand. Jyothshi can work the count both ways and say what the other seven kootas add.

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